monitress

English

Etymology

From monitor +‎ -ess.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒnɪtɹɪs/

Noun

monitress (plural monitresses)

1. (now rare) A female mentor or advisor; a female observer. [from 18th c.]
   • 1820, Mary Shelley, Mathilda, published 1959:

     Diana filled up all his heart: he felt as if by his union with her he had received a new and better soul. She was his monitress as he learned what were the true ends of life.

   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:

     Maisie could feel his monitress stiffen almost with anguish against the increase of his spell and then hurl herself as a desperate defence from it into the quite confessed poorness of violence, of iteration.

2. (dated) A female monitor, or school leader. [from 18th c.]
   • 1922, Angela Brazil, Monitress Merle:

     Miss Mitchell would certainly be most relieved to have a monitress who was capable of organising the juniors at games.

Anagrams

• rimstones, sermonist